Maybe Not So Fun
by Sand-wolf579
Summary: Hank Hall had always thought that running away was fun and cool. It's not until Don is the one that runs away from home does Hank realize that maybe running away isn't so fun after all, especially not for those that are left behind.
1. Chapter 1

**So I got this idea after watching the episode Hawk and Dove when Hawk says that he and Dove had ran away from home a lot when they were younger. So here we go, I hope you enjoy.**

It was just an average day for Hank Hall, he had no idea that anything was wrong, he had no reason to think that anything wasn't right. He'd gone to school, and nearly slept through all of his classes. Now though he was wide awake, because school was over and Hank was going out and hanging out with his friends again. Hey, it wasn't his fault that school was boring. True, he wouldn't be so tired if he hadn't stayed out all night with his friends, but hey, it was a blast and totally worth it. He'll just get Don to tell him anything important that he, Hank, might have missed. See, that was the beauty of having a younger brother going to school with you, you don't have to pay attention because he does.

Don was only fourteen, three years younger than Hank was, yet he was taking some of the same classes. Don was really smart and was taking some Senior and Junior classes even though he was only a Freshman. He was actually smart enough to just skip being a Freshman and a Sophomore altogether, but he didn't want to do that. It had taken a lot of coaxing for Hank to get him to take the higher level science and math classes. They were now taking some of the same courses, but unfortunately they didn't have any of their classes together.

Don wasn't very happy that he and Hank weren't in any classes together. Hank on the other hand couldn't have been more thrilled, although he didn't tell Don this. It's not that he didn't like his brother, it's just that Hank could do without Don's big mouth and brain sometimes. Now though, it was just Hank and his friends going out and doing whatever. No school, and no little brothers, to bug them for most of the rest of the day.

"Hank, can I talk to you for a second?" A female voice asks before the boys can leave the school.

_So much for that idea._ Hank groans and turns to face Ms. Shreya, his chemistry teacher. What? Did she notice that he was sleeping in class again?

"Yeah, I have a minute." Hank says, motioning for his friends to leave without him. He'd catch up with them in a second. "What's up?"

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble." Ms. Shreya says, "This is actually about your brother, Don."

Alright, now she had his attention. "Don? What did he do?" Hank asks, furrowing his brow.

"Nothing really," Ms. Shreya assures him, "I'm just wondering why Don wasn't in class today."

_Don wasn't? Why the hell wouldn't he be?_ Hank wonders. "I have no idea why he wouldn't be." he says.

"Oh, so Don's not sick?" she asks.

"I don't think so." Hank shrugs.

"I thought he might be." She says, "He didn't seem very well yesterday. He was distracted, which is so unlike him."

"Yeah, it is." Hank says. "Maybe he is sick. You know what? I'll go home, see if he's there." Hank shifts his backpack to a more comfortable spot and without another word starts heading home. His friends would be disappointed, but they could wait. Don came first, he always came first. He would explain to them later.

The Hall house wasn't far from the school, so Hank got there after only a few minutes. He supposed that he could've called Don on his cell, or even called home to see if he was there, but Hank had a feeling, a bad one, that calling wouldn't have worked. Hank opens the front door to the house and doesn't bother closing it. He just bounds upstairs, two steps at a time, to get to Don's room.

One quick look around the room shows that it's empty, Don's not in here. Hank quickly checks all the other rooms in the house, his room, his dad's room, the living room, the kitchen. After a few minutes it became clear that Don wasn't in the house. Now Hank was starting to get worried. He goes back up to Don's room, to see if there was something in there that would tell where he was.

Don's room was pretty basic, yet completely different from Hanks. While Hank's room was crammed with a bunch of random stuff that he thought was cool, with barely an inch of space, Don's on the other hand was neat and comfortable and you could tell that he spent a lot of time in there. And there, sitting on his bed was his cell phone. Hank knew that calling him wouldn't have done any good. Besides the phone on the bed, Don's room looks just like it always does, except some drawers and the closet door are opened, and it looked like they'd been thrown open hastily.

Hank walks over to the closet, a little curious as to why the closet was opened at all. Don didn't put things in the closet unless it was something he'd rather forget about. Hank only knew about one thing for sure that was in there, and that was a backpack. If that wasn't in there, then that meant…No, he wouldn't have, but he might as well check, just in case. Hank looks inside the closet, hoping that he was wrong...

_no._

Don's backpack, it's gone. But he can't have...he wouldn't. His backpack must've been gone for another reason, if Don had really done this, then he would've said something, let Hank know about it somehow. Then it hits Hank, Don probably did leave a message for him, there was probably a reason he left the cell phone on the middle of the bed.

Hank flips open Don's phone and quickly finds a message, and it was from Don. Hank reads the message and sits down on the bed, his eyes wide and fearful. No, this wasn't happening, Don wouldn't do this. Sure, Hank used to do it all the time, but-but this was Don. He wouldn't do this.

Don wouldn't run away.

**You know, for a story that I wasn't sure about writing, because I thought that it wouldn't turn out well, this first chapter turned out very well. I'm going to enjoy writing the rest of this, and hope you continue reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

So, this next chapter is more flashbacks than anything. The parts that take place in the past are italicized, hope you enjoy.

Oh, and I don't own Hank or Don Hall, or anything else that is at all related to Justice League.

Hank ran out of Don's room as fast as he could. He had to find him, he had to find his little brother. Upon arriving downstairs though, he realizes just how lonely and empty the house felt. Don wasn't there, Hank knew that, that was sort of the point. Their dad was still at work, and their mom...The last time she'd been here was about a year ago, before she'd died.

Hank shook his head, he had to focus. He had to find Don and bring him home. There was only one problem...Hank had no idea where Don would've run off to. Don wasn't anything like Hank, he wouldn't run off without thinking about where he was going first. He would have a plan. Hank just needed to think of what that plan might have been...and nothings coming to mind. Guess he'd better go with plan B, which is to just drive around town, hoping he'd be able to find Don. It wasn't a good plan, but it was better than just sitting around, doing nothing.

Hank got in his car, really relieved that he had gotten his license a few weeks ago. As Hank drives his mind turns to the many times that he had 'tried' to run away from home. He'd actually done it a lot when he was younger, always dragging Don along with him. The first time had been when he was seven, and it was for a stupid reason.

_Hank had always loved playing sports. His favorite sport now was football, but when he was younger it had been soccer. He was constantly kicking a ball around, and trying to teach Don how to do it properly. One day their mom told Hank that he couldn't play any more soccer until he cleaned his room. Hank had gotten angry, he hated how his mom thought that she could just tell him what he could and couldn't do all the time, so he'd ran off, and had brought his four year old brother with him._

_Even at that young of an age Don was very good at negotiating. After being gone for just fifteen minutes Don already wanted to go home to mom, and was easily able to convince his older brother to come home with him by saying that he'd clean his room for him. Obviously Hank agreed and followed his little brother home. Their mom hadn't even noticed that they were gone._

Hank hits the steering wheel in frustration, he really was such an idiot. Don wouldn't have run off for no reason, he must've been upset about something, and Hank hadn't even realized. Oh yeah, he totally deserved the 'best-brother-of-the-year' award. Also if Hank hadn't attempted to run away so many times when they were younger then maybe Don wouldn't have thought that this would've solved his problems.

There were many times, more times than he could count, that Hank and Don had run off. They'd always returned back home, whether it was after twenty minutes, or twenty hours. They'd run off so often that both of them had two backpacks. One for school, and one that always had anything they might need if they got the sudden urge to leave home.

Hank wasn't sure why he ran away from home so often, it's not like his life was terrible or anything like that. Sometimes things just didn't go his way, and that's when he would run off. It was always Don that had followed closely behind him. It was Don that was always able to get him to come home. He was always there to help Hank with his problems, even when he had his own problems to deal with. Like seven years ago, when Hank had ran away because he was mad at Don.

_Ten year old Hank had been angry and moody all week. It was summertime, and their father had promised Hank that they could go camping that week, just the two of them, but they didn't, all because Don got unexpectedly sick. Their dad then said that they would leave once Don got better, but he wasn't getting better, if anything he was getting worse. _

_After Don was sick for a week and still wasn't getting any better, Hank had had enough. He'd grabbed his backpack and, late that night, when both his parents were asleep, snuck outside and started walking off. He was through with this, he was through with Don. His younger brother always got all the attention...or at least it felt that way. If his parent's didn't care if he was around or not, then he won't be. Hank walked for a while, but stopped in his tracks when a voice that he wasn't expecting called out to him._

_"Hank, wait up." Don called out, struggling to catch up to his older brother. Hank glared at the smaller boy._

_"Go home Don." Hank said, turning his back on his brother. He continued walking, thinking that if he just ignored him, Don would just give up and go home, but it wasn't going to happen. _

_"I'm not going home unless you do." Don said, speeding up until he was level with and walking alongside Hank. Don grabed the bigger boy's arm, but Hank harshly shoved his younger brother to the ground._

_"Take a hint, Don." Hank snarlsed "I'm not going home, I don't want to be there anymore."_

_"But, why not?" Don asked, sincerely curious._

_"Because you're there!" Hank said angrily, "I don't want to be anywhere near you anymore. You're just an annoying, needy brat." Hank turned and ran off, trying not to think of the pained look he had seen on Don's face. Hank had thought that Don wasn't going to follow him anymore, but he was wrong._

_"Hank, wait!" Don called out, his voice sounding hoarse. Hank ignored his younger brothers call and just ran faster. For a minute he could hear Don running behind him, but then he heard nothing. Hank stopped running and looked behind him to see what happened to Don, and was shocked and a little scared to see that his younger brother had fainted. _

_Hank immediately forgot his anger. He rushed back to his brother, he needed to be sure if he was okay. Hank flipped Don over so he was lying on his back. The boy was breathing shallowly, and was burning up. Hank didn't know how to deal with sickness, their mom always dealt with someone when they were sick. Hank draped his younger brother over his back. Mom would know what to do, and mom was at home, so Hank had to take Don home himself. _

_Hank carried his younger brother home, laid him down in his bed, then went to go wake up their mom. She got up and had taken care of Don, with Hank watching her every move, paying attention to what she did, so that next time someone was sick he would know what to do and wouldn't feel so helpless. Don had gotten over his illness shortly after this, and Hank had gotten over his anger and thoughts of running away...for a little while._

It was always because of Don that Hank only ever attempted to run away, Don always convinced him to come home. No matter how hard Hank tried to not listen to him, Don always won him over in the end. At first he managed it with very little effort, although as they both got older, they both got more stubborn, and things got more heated between the two of them. The worst time was two years ago, the last time Hank had thought about running away.

_It was 10:45 pm, on a school night, yet fifteen-year-old Hank Hall was still sitting at the kitchen table, wide awake, with no plans to go to bed anytime soon. He was glaring at everything in the room, but mostly at the clock, the door, and his homework that was sitting in front of him. High school was hard, and he had a hard assignment due the next day and he had no idea what he was supposed to do. His dad had promised that he would come home early and help him with it, but here it was, getting late, and he was still at stupid work, like he always was._

_After another five minutes of waiting Hank had had enough. He stormed upstairs, not thinking for a second that maybe he should be quieter because both his mom and Don had already gone to bed, both liked turning in early. Hank didn't care if he woke them up. The only thing that Hank cared about was that his dad wasn't around when he needed him. He never was anymore._

_Hank quickly went into his room and snatched up his run away bag from the middle of the floor. Hank took another moment to grab some last minute things that he might need, then turned around and left the room, only to see Don standing in his own bedroom doorway._

_"What are you doing up?" Hank asked harshly, glaring at his little brother. The smaller blond boy doesn't shrink under Hank's glare, Hank wouldn't hurt him._

_"How could anybody sleep through all the noise you were making? Seriously, were you trying to wake up the whole neighborhood?" Don asked, folding his arms across his chest._

_"Shut up." Hank snapped. He was not in the mood to deal with Don right now. Don's eyes soften slightly, which just irked Hank more._

_"Dad's still not home, is he?" Don asked calmly. Hank didn't answer, but he didn't have to, Don could practically feel the anger pouring off of him. "You know, you don't have to wait up for dad. Do you think you can do the homework on your own, without his help?"_

_"I'm not doing the stupid assignment." Hank said. "I'm done." He then turns down the hall, making his way for the stairs. He was leaving, he was really going to do it this time, no more of these half hearted attempts. Once Don caught sight of Hanks backpack he knew what he was up to, and was determined to stop it. Don ran ahead and stepped in front of Hank, blocking the stairs._

_"You aren't thinking of running off again, are you?" Don asked._

_"That's none of your business, Don." Hank said harshly, "Now move."_

_"Of course it's my business." Don said, not moving an inch, "I know that look in your eyes, you're completely serious about this."_

_"Yeah, I am serious about this, so get out of my way!" Hank said, his hand curling up into a fist._

_"I'm not going to do that, Hank." Don said, folding his arms across his chest._

_"What do you think you could do to stop me?" Hank asked._

_"Oh, I don't know, probably the same thing that I did all the other times you tried, and failed, to run away." Don said, the ghost of a smirk on his face. Hank lost it at this point, he moved to punch Don's stupid cocky face, but Don saw it coming, and dodged out of the way, so Hank hits nothing but air. His momentum though sent him barreling down the stairs. Don grabbed Hank's backpack in an attempt to stop him, but Hank was bigger than him, so both of them ended up falling down the stairs._

_"Okay, that wasn't fun." Hank groaned as he pushed Don off of him and stood up. Don grabbed the railing and pulled himself to his feet and put his hand against his head._

_"When has falling down the stairs ever been fun?" Don asked sarcastically._

_"Shut up," Hank said, he readjusted his backpack and heading to the front door._

_"You're still thinking of doing this?" Don asked, his voice laced with shock._

_"Of course," Hank said without turning around._

_"Before you go can you at least give me a good reason why?" Don asked, and before Hank can say anything Don added "An answer better than because dad's never around."_

_"What other answer do you want?" Hank asked, turning to face his brother. "For me that is a good enough reason. I don't expect a momma's boy like you to understand." Hank says, making his way to the door again._

_"Oh, stop feeling so sorry for yourself." Don said coldly. Hank turned back to Don, his eyes wide. He'd never heard Don sound like this before. Don was glaring at him, his eyes hard._

_"You seriously think you're the only one who wants dad around more?" Don asked, "You think I don't wish that I could spend more time with him? I get even less time with him than you do, because whenever he is home you're always with him. You don't see me running away because of it."_

_"Only because you're too afraid to." Hank accused. _

_"Seriously?" Don raised his eyebrow, "Are you saying that it's cowardly to stay and face your problems head on? Seems to me that it's more cowardly to always be running away from your problems."_

_"You calling me a coward?" Hank asked angrily, rounding on his brother. Don stood his ground, not to be intimidated by his older brother._

_"Yeah, I guess I am." Don said, he took a deep breath and softened his expression "You're better than this, Hank."_

_"What else do you want me to do?" Hank asked as he leaned against the wall._

_"How about instead of leaving whenever just one reason comes up you only do it when you have, say, three reasons for doing so." Don suggested. "And if you even think about leaving without three different reasons than I will tell mom and dad what you've been doing."_

_"You wouldn't." Hank challenged._

_"I would," Don said stubbornly, "I don't want to lose my brother, so I'll act desperately."_

_"Alright," Hank said, taking his backpack off and putting it on the ground, "We'll try it your way. Not like you've left much choice._

_"True," Don said with a smile, "Now come on, let's see if we can figure out that homework of yours."_

Hank stopped the car and leaned his head back against the seat. He had no idea what he was going to do, where the hell could Don have gone? Hank wasn't even sure of why he left. Maybe he wanted to impress someone, or get attention...no, Don wasn't like that. Don always got irritated whenever Hank attempted to run away, then told his friends about it. They always found them the coolest and most impressive of stories, but they often teased Don because he would always wuss out and go running back home to mom.

Wait a second...Mom! That's it! Hank had an idea where Don could've gone. Yes, it was only an idea, and he could be wrong, but the idea was all that he had to go on right now. Hank started up the car again and quickly made his way out of town. He was making his way for a cemetery a few towns away.

The cemetery that their mom was buried in.

**So, I'll get the next chapter up soon, but in the meantime, please review, tell me what you like, or don't like, just review, please.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, now we get to find out why on earth Don would run away. Oh, and I hope you appreciate that this is the longest chapter I've ever written for anything, honestly, it's almost three times longer than what I'm used to writing.**

Hank really needed to find Don soon, so yes, he was speeding just a bit...alright, he was speeding a lot. But he needed to hurry, or else Don might leave the cemetery, and that is if he even went there in the first place. Hank was so busy trying to get there that he saw almost too late some kid who was crossing the street. Hank slammed on the brakes, breathing hard. Just a few more feet and he would have hit that young teenager...wait a second...it was Don! He found Don. Sure, Hank would have preferred it if he hadn't almost killed his younger brother, but still.

Evidently Don also saw and recognized his older brother, and once he did he turned around and started running in the opposite direction. The boy ignored Hank's calls for him to stop, if anything he ran faster. Hank groaned in frustration and turned the car off and, leaving the car in the middle of the road, took off after Don.

It took a while for Hank to catch up with Don, seriously, that kid could move fast when he didn't want to be caught. But Hank was in better shape than Don, so he was able to run faster. When Hank caught up with Don he did the only thing he could think of to stop his brother, which was to tackle him to the ground. Don struggled to get out from under Hank, but Hank wasn't about to let him go

"Get off me, Hank." Don says.

"No, Don." Hank says angrily, he sits up so that Don wouldn't be crushed to the sidewalk, but he was sitting on Don's legs so he wouldn't run off again. "What the hell were you thinking? You can't just run away like this for no reason."

"Oh yes, because you never did that." Don says, turning his body to glare at Hank.

"Hey, I had reasons, even if they were pretty stupid ones." Hank says, "But there's no way a perfect boy like you could have any reason for running away." Hank would have said more if it weren't for the fist that connected with his jaw. Don had hit him. Hank finally got off his brothers legs and stood up. He clenched one hand into a fist, and with the other grabbed the front of Don's shirt and jerked him to his feet.

"What was that for, you little punk." Hank says angrily. At first Don's eyes were filled with anger, but he soon looked horrified about what he'd done, and terrified about what Hank might do. Hank was just about to hit Don right back, but seeing the scared look on his face, Hank couldn't bring himself to do it. Hank couldn't believe it, Don was afraid of him. Hank sighs and let's go of Don's shirt. He couldn't start some petty fist fight with Don right now, he needed to be the bigger man.

Besides, Don was not the type of person to punch anybody...ever. Just the fact that he hit Hank meant that was really over the edge right now, he needed help, not somebody yelling at him. Hank takes a deep breath, hoping he could be the comforting brother that Don needed right now.

"Don, please," Hank pleads, "Tell me what's going on."

"I already did." Don says accusingly.

"What? When?" Hank asks.

"Yesterday morning," Don says, "Before you left for school. You just told me to man up and deal with it, that it was my own fault." Hank's eyes widen. He had said that yesterday. Don had been slow that morning, and when Hank asked him about it Don had told him that he couldn't handle school anymore, that it was too hard. Hank had replied the way that Don just said, but Hank thought that Don was talking about the classes themselves. Now that's he's thinking about it, that doesn't make much sense.

"So, you weren't saying that the schoolwork was too hard?" Hank asks, just to clarify.

"Of course not." Don scoffs, "If a moron like you can handle the classes, then I think I can take it."

"If that's not it, then what is it?" Hank asks, "What's bothering you?"

"As if you don't know." Don says.

"I don't," Hank exclaims, "I have no idea what's going on with you." Hank steps closer to Don.

"Please, Don, let me in." Hank says, his voice quiet and pleading, "Let me help you."

"It's not a big deal," Don sighs.

"If it wasn't a big deal, you wouldn't have run off." Hank points out. Hank then sees that Don's face has a pretty bad scrape on it, from when Hank had knocked him to the ground. But for some odd reason Don also had a black eye, which Hank wasn't sure where he got.

"Sorry about that tackle," Hank says sheepishly.

Don actually cracks a grin, "Don't worry about it," He says, "It's not the first time I've been shoved around by a neanderthal, and sadly, it probably won't be the last."

Finally Hank puts two and two together...well, two and two and two, considering he's had three different clues. Don having a hard time at school, his black eye, and being shoved around by neanderthals...Although, Hank really wasn't sure what a neanderthal was, but it didn't sound like the most flattering thing to call someone.

"Don, are you being picked on at school?" Hank asks slowly.

"You mean you seriously didn't know this?" Don asks.

"No, of course not." Hank says, shocked, "Who's been doing it? Because I will punch their nose in, and you're not going to stop me." Don actually looked amused about this.

"No you won't," Don says plainly, "Although it is funny that you're so oblivious about something going on literally right under your nose."

"Why won't I punch the jerk?" Hank asks, "Who's going to stop me?"

"No one." Don says, "But I doubt you'd want to punch them."

Hank looks at Don oddly, "What are you talking about?"

Don sighs and shakes his head, "Nothing." Hank shrugs and puts his arm around Don's shoulder.

"So, did you run away just because you've been picked on?" Hank asks. Don glares at Hank and pulls away from his grip.

"'Just' because of it?" Don asks, his voice cold, "There's no 'just' about it. Those guys have been going out of their way to make everyday at school a living Hell for me."

"Why would they do that?" Hank asks.

"Because, according to them, I'm a know it all boy who thinks that I'm so much better than they are." Don says.

"So it's because they're jealous?" Hank says, "That's a stupid reason."

"Well, they are Neanderthals, I don't think it takes too much for them to get violent about anything." Don shrugs.

"Alright, what is a Neanderthal anyway?" Hank asks, annoyed that Don kept saying that. Don doesn't hesitate for a second, he just answers "A Neanderthal is technically a caveman of sorts, but when I say it I'm talking about someone who has three traits, they're big, slow, and stupid."

Hank nods for a second, then remembers that Don had called him a Neanderthal. "Hey." Hank complains, "You saying I'm big, slow, and stupid?"

"Yeah, a little," Don says, "Don't worry about it though, a lot of teenagers are like that. All of your friends are actually like that too."

"Glad to hear you have such a high opinion of us," Hank says. "Seriously though, is teenagers are stupid the only reason you have for running away?" Don thinks for a second before answering.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Don asks, Hank nods so Don sighs and says "Follow me." Don leads Hank through the town, heading for the cemetery and explaining his other reason for running away.

"Well, school is hard, but honestly, going back to our house is harder." Don says. When Hank looks confused, Don tries his best to explain. "I've been picked on at school before, but it never seemed that bad because when I got home I could always talk to you, or mom, or even dad about it. And if none of you were around, I would just call my friends or something and talk to them about it. But this year dad's been working more than ever, you stay out all hours of the night, and my so called friends refuse to talk to me."

"Why won't your friends talk to you?" Hank asks.

"They're mad because we were all honor students, yet I'm the only one taking classes for higher grades while they're still in classes that they think are too easy." Don says, "They also think that I think that I'm better than they are."

"You don't think that way though." Hank says, "And if you really want to, couldn't you just stay up until I get home and we can talk then?"

"If you think back, I tried to do that." Don says, "For the first month of two I always stayed up waiting for you, but when you finally did come back you were tired and would get mad at me for bugging you." Hank looked at the ground at this, because Don was right, he had gotten mad at him for trying to talk to him. If Hank had known it was because Don was being bullied…

"Alright, so where's your third reason?" Hank asks, "If you force me to have three reasons to run away, then you have to have three reasons too."

"You want a third reason?" Don asks, stopping in his tracks. They were at the cemetery now, and Don had stopped in front of a grave. "There's your third reason." Hank looks and sees that it's their mother's grave. Hank feels his breath catch in his throat, he didn't like being here, it was too depressing.

"So your third reason is that you're upset because mom died?" Hank asks, "Seriously, Don?" Don just glared at Hank, his eyes glossy. He adjusts his backpack, turns around and starts walking away.

"Don, what are you doing?" Hank asks.

"Same thing I was trying to do five minutes ago before you so forcefully interrupted." Don says, not turning around. Hank follows after Don, trying to convince him to not do this.

"Look, Don, I'll help you with the people who are picking on you." Hank says.

"I don't see how you will," Don says, "If you didn't notice it happening before, why would you see it now?"

"I would see it if you'd just tell me who's bullying you." Hank says.

"I doubt you'd believe me." Don says simply, still not turning around.

"Well, how about if I start coming home sooner?" Hank suggests.

"If possible, that would just make things worse," Don says, "We don't exactly get along with each other."

"Don, what do you want from me?" Hank asks, "Can't you just stop being so stupid and come home?"

"Don't you get it!?" Don yells, turning around suddenly, his eyes, Hank was startled to see, were wet with tears. "That place isn't home anymore, and won't ever be again, because she's not there."

Hank stopped in his tracks. He had no idea that Don was this upset about it...but he should have. He should know about all of this. Don's his little brother, Hank was supposed to protect him. Some big brother he was. Hank moves closer to Don and does the only thing he could think of, he embraces him. Hank hugs his brother tightly, which is something he hadn't done for years.

"I do get it, Don." Hank says, "I feel the same way, and I bet dad does too. That's sort of the reason that I haven't ever really been home that much this past year, because it doesn't feel quite like home anymore. I didn't think for a second that me not being there would make things worse for you."

"Of course you didn't think of that," Don says, his voice shaking slightly. "Thinking isn't exactly what you specialize in."

"True," Hank admits, ending the embrace. "But it doesn't take a genius to see how lonely you've been this past year." Don was looking at the ground, but what Hank was going to say next was important, he needed Don to understand this.

"Don, look at me." Hank says sternly. Don reluctantly looks up and meets his brother's eye. "I know that things have been hard for you, so I'm going to give you a choice here. You can come back with me, risking the chance that things won't get better and you'll still be lonely, or you can leave like you were going to and you'll definitely be lonely, so which will it be?"

"Some choice that is," Don mutters under his breath. He sighs and says "I guess I could give this another chance. I'll go back with you."

"Good," Hank says, "Because seriously, it may not feel as much like home with mom gone, but if you left it would feel even less like home."

"If you say so." Don shrugs.

"I do say so." Hank says, he puts his arm over Don's shoulder again, "Come on, let's go get some food or something, I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," Don laughs, "I'm starting to think you have a bottomless pit for a stomach." Hank shakes his head and leads Don to where he left the car.

"You left the car in the middle of the street?" Don says, "That's a very good place to leave a vehicle."

"Shut up," Hank says, "I was in a hurry, but at least I remembered to turn the car off."

"Yeah, it wouldn't be very good if we came back here and found that the car had run out of gas because you left it on," Don says, "Or, even better, someone decided to steal it."

"Cut the sarcasm and just get in the car already." Hank says. Don gets in the passenger seat and Hank drives them to a nearby mall where they could get a late lunch, or early dinner, however they wanted to think of it. Things were going well for the two brothers, until…

"Hey, Hank." A voice called out. It was one of Hank's friends,, Dave. Dave and the rest of Hank's best friends had been just hanging out at the mall when they saw Hank there. "Nice of you to finally show, we thought you bailed on us." Dave says.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Hank says, "I just needed to help Don with something." Hank didn't fail to hear Don mutter "Of course they have to be here, why not?"

"Couldn't Donnie boy wait until later?" Dave says, "Was his problem really so serious that it couldn't wait?"

"It was serious," Hank says, "Don was about to run away."

Dave eyes Don for a second before saying "I still don't see what the problem was."

One of Hank's other friends asks him "Hey, Hank, what happened to your mouth?" Hank puts his hand to his lip and could feel that it was bleeding a little from when Don had punched him.

"It's nothing," Hank says, "Me and Don just had a little fight, it's no big deal."

"So that's where Donnie get the scrapped chin," Dave say, "I was wondering. But Don gave you that cut lip? I didn't think he had any fight in him."

"That's because it depends on the person," Don finally speaks up, "I don't fight back against brainless brutes, it's a waste of time and energy."

"Are you calling me a brainless brute?" Dave growls without thinking. Don smirks and Hank turns to his friend.

"He never said he was talking about you." Hank says with a glare. Was he really this oblivious? Don was right, Hank did miss what was going on right under his nose, but not anymore.

"Come on, Don." Hank says, "Let's go."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Dave asks, "Come on Hank, it's not that big a deal."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me." Hank says calmly. He then quickly and unexpectedly turns and punches Dave in the face, successfully breaking his nose. "Leave Don alone." Hank says, "And if you try to blame me, I will tell them how you've been bullying Don."

"And why would they believe you?" Dave asks harshly, his hands over his nose.

"Well, that's one of the perks of being a teacher's pet," Don says, "They believe what you have to tell them." Don and Hank then leave and make their way back to their house. As they drive Don turns to Hank.

"You know, you shouldn't have punched him." Don says.

"Hey, I said I would, and I meant it." Hank says, "Nobody messes with my little brother."

"There are better ways you could have handled it." Don says, "I doubt they'll want to be friends with you now though."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Hank says, "But they weren't very good friends in the first place. Too self centered."

"Still, you shouldn't have reacted with violence, it doesn't solve anything." Don says.

"Violence is the only language they understand," Hank says, "I think it worked fine. I don't think they're going to pick on you anymore, and if they do I will make them regret it."

Don sighs and shakes his head, "You're impossible."

"And you're stubborn and pigheaded." Hank says, "If you really didn't want me to punch Dave, you would've done something yourself to keep them from picking on you. Why haven't you told a teacher of someone else about this?"

"I was scared that if I told someone that they'd talk to them about it, but they wouldn't listen and would just treat me even worse for telling on them." Don says.

"Well, you're not going to have to worry about them anymore." Hank says. And he was right, Dave and the others didn't bully Don anymore after that. They didn't dare to when Hank had taken to spending as much time as he could with Don. They didn't mess with Don, because they didn't want to mess with Hank. Hank was right about another thing, Don didn't feel so alone anymore. Just knowing that his brother was there for him made Don feel a lot better, and slowly their house started to feel like home again.

**Okay, that took a while to write, but I finished it. Although it feels pretty out of character, but you know it's hard to have it be in character when their roles are reversed. I hope you enjoyed this story, I know that I enjoyed writing it, even if it was slightly annoying.**


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